Beautiful day for it. The park is pretty popular among the locals for hiking and mountain biking, but far enough off the beaten path to not be too much of a tourist trap. It's not huge, but it's big enough so that the hiking trails don't ever feel crowded.
Anyway, we enjoyed our neature walk.
You all know how the family typically refuses to pose for any photos, so I just snapped covertly away.
We thought we might try some geocaching, as there's got to be some in Ute Valley, but we couldn't get the information to load, so we just didn't. We did come across a cache of weird rock formations that we still have no explanation for. They looked like fossilized coral or other marine invertabrates, but could just be mineral deposits or petrified poop for all we know.
Then, this morning, I got even more neat nature.
I was out enjoying a run in about 50 degrees. I can't remember the last time it was 50 degrees before the sun came up! Anyway, I wasn't far from home when I was running along this weedy, woodsy area. The road was on my left, a weedy woodsy ditch on my right. I heard a ruckus to my right.
It's common to hear a ruckus in the weedy woods. There are plenty of bunnies and birds and other varmints around. But this was BIG ruckus! I saw three large, startled deer in the ditch weeds. Their antlers looked particularly huge, so I decided to just keep on a-runnin'.
Two of the giant deer headed off down the ditch in the opposite direction of me, but the third ran along side me. I was a bit worried that he would become enraged and run up and gore and trample me to a dead bloody pulp run by me onto the road, but thankfully he stopped and turned around to join his weed buddies.
Oh, and Reese the King snake has awakened from his brumation. He shed his skin, we fed him a mouse. Apparently, spring has arrived.
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11 comments:
Sounds like an excellent weekend even with the petrified poop and deer attacks, isnt it funny how much better the pictures are when you randomly snap them rather than ask anyone to pose.
Oh, we're terrible at posing.
And yes, it was a fun weekend adventure. The deer were probably pretty if I hadn't been so busy envisioning my impalement on those antlers.
That sounds like a great way to spend Easter. Way better than stuffing yourself on holiday food until you feel sick ... like some people do ... so I've heard. Anyway...
I've only encountered a deer once while running. I came around a wide curve and saw her standing in front of me. She had that deer in the headlights look. (Ha!) And then she just ran off into the woods. Which was good. Deer seem like pretty gentle creatures but I still don't want to get up close and personal with one.
The deer in my parents' old neighborhood, when they lived here, were fearless. And shameless. I saw one go into a neighbor's garden and eat so many of their flower that it finally passed on in their yard, probably from being stuffed.
What a great way to spend Easter day! It was nice here, but not as nice as your weather appears.
I'da been a little petrified if a deer started running along side me. Was it able to keep up with you?
Glad the deer was nice to you! I can feel a mix of joy and terror at that point. It reminds me of a day at the zoo many years ago - I had been left behind for some reason and was running along the side of a tiger enclosure, and a tiger was loping along level with me on the other side of the fence! I was glad that the fence was nice and strong and high!
I come across the occasional deer, especially early in the morning like that. They do seem gentle, but when they're startled, they can be pretty stupid - and that makes them scary!
Wow! We get deer in the yards now and then, but usually they just dine and dash.
Easter was lovely!
I wasn't sure what to do about that deer that decided to run alongside me. He was right on pace! Luckily, he seemed to realize his buddies had a better plan.
That deer thing was kinda weird. It felt like the ground was shaking with each hoof-fall, but probably my imagination!
Great way to spend the Easter Weekend. enjoying Mother Nature. Nice run even if you had some company to make it interesting.
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